Suddenly shipping out to sea tomorrow…

The plans are still evolving as I go. To get from Panama to Colombia there are three options:1: Fly. Expensive, quick, normal experience.2: Take a passenger-type boat. They stop in the San Blas Islands along the way, the trip takes about 5 days. Live on a boat for a week as it crosses the lower corner of the Caribbean. Not cheap, but figure in the cost of accommodation for 5 days plus food, and it suddenly ain’t so bad.3: Try and find a cargo boat to take you. Would be the most adventurous option. But. Tales of drug smugglers, robber/pirate-style shady characters etc are rife. Along the lines of “me and one other guy paid for passage to Cartagena and were dropped off in the middle of the night on some random beach. When we finally made it to civilization they said we were incredibly lucky not to have been murdered and dumped over the side.” This after spending an hour or so listening to tales of murder on the high seas hereabouts.

There are only a few boats for option 2 around right now, since we are edging closer to hurricane season. The big reputable cargo companies for option 3 most likely don’t take on passengers, leaving the smaller and more desperate (ie sketchy) ones.

I was wrestling with my desire to have the best adventure to tell you about, versus my desire to maintain my physical being in a state of reasonably good repair, when the Universe gave me a hint in the form of a friendly Guatemalan lady who runs a boat trip out to the San Blas and back. They can’t take me to Colombia, but they can take me out into the islands and leave me on the one farthest out, from where I should be able to catch something for the rest of the trip…

So the car to the port leaves tomorrow morning at 5:30 AM, and I will be at sea for 5-6 days most likely, depending on how the transfer(s) go.